By Keith Henry
With both teams splitting the Carolina road swing to begin MEAC play last weekend, they came into Hill Field House last night looking to get a leg up on each other in this rivalry classic.
But it was Coppin State who pulled out the 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 27-25) sweep of Morgan State. It was the second time ever that the Lady Eagles swept the Lady Bears on the road in program history.
It came down to the third game and Morgan State (3-14, 1-2 MEAC) was up 24-22 and had a couple of game point opportunities to push the match to a game four. But Coppin State (8-7, 2-1 MEAC) had some answers for the Lady Bears, outscoring them 5-1 down the stretch to win the match.
Coppin head coach Tim Walsh said about the stretch run, “We got some good touches and just fought, which was good. So that was something we’ve been lacking, I think. So that was definitely something better for us. To fight back and not give up on game point.”
Coppin middle hitter Jordan Celestine added, “We’re hungry! When we’re down, it’s like that’s go time. You have to work even harder. We have that mindset of we’re not dropping a set. We’re in it and we are gonna keep going.”
The young Lady Bears were in it for most of this match. But the errors were their downfall according to Morgan State head coach Ramona Riley-Bozier. “It’s the errors and we just need to have a few more players to step up and get it done. It’s just where we’re always at,” said the head coach of 32 years. “We played better than what I thought we were going to play. We know Coppin is a solid team. A seasoned team.”
It was a back and forth affair for most of the match. In game one, the Lady Bears got off to a 4-1 start off of a few Coppin errors and a kill from Kendal Hoges. Then the Lady Eagles fought back using a 14-8 run led by a couple of Miajavon Coleman kills, a kill and a block by Ahzhi Coleman, plus a kill and a service ace from Paola Caten to put Coppin back on top 14-11. The Lady Bears fought back and went up 18-17 on a couple of Gabriela Hiciano kills to go on top again 18-17. But Coppin scored the next five points to put the game away led by three kills from the Coleman sisters. Miajavon had two of the three to bring Coppin on top to stay at 22-18.
In game two, Coppin sprung ahead 5-1 on kills from Paola Caten and Ahzhi Coleman. The Lady Eagles never relinquished the advantage. Morgan State got to within two points before the Lady Eagles were able to put this game away and seized the 2-0 match advantage.
Caten led Coppin with 12 kills on the night. Andrea Tsvetanova led all players with 34 assists. Ashley Roman led all players with 14 digs. For Morgan State, Madison Grace led all hitters with 17 kills. Trinity Carruthers led the Lady Bears with 33 assists and Alyssa Sampson led the team with 11 digs.
Both teams are off for a week before Coppin travels to Norfolk State and Morgan will host Howard at Hill Field House on October 8th.
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